FAA Recommends Committed-to-stop Point for Landings

The FAA has released Information for Operators (InFO) 17009 to remind crews of turbine-powered aircraft of the importance in establishing a point during landing where a go-around or rejected landing procedure will not be initiated, and the only option will be bringing the aircraft to a stop. This recommendation stems from a July 2008 fatal accident in which a Hawker 800A crashed while attempting a go-around more than 17 seconds after touchdown on 5,500-foot Runway 30 at Minnesota’s Owatonna Degner Regional Airport.

While the FAA has investigated the potential benefits and risks associated with incorporating a committed-to-stop point in the aircraft flight manual, the agency said operational factors are too numerous and varied to establish a single committed-to-stop point. Thus, it believes that operators are in the best position to make this determination for their operation and type aircraft.

“Operators who establish committed-to-stop points would eliminate ambiguity for pilots making decisions during time-critical events,” the FAA said. The agency recommends that operators establish SOPs for flight crews to determine a point after touchdown where a go-around will not be initiated. This could be accomplished by any single procedure or combination of procedures, such as deploying reversers or lift-dump, spoilers or speed brakes and committing to stop below a certain airspeed and/or runway distance remaining.

According to the FAA, committed-to-stop points should be included in the approach briefing and incorporated into an operator’s SOPs, flight operations manual, initial and recurrent training and crew resource management training program.